GETTING TECHNICAL
You may have seen Ray Harryhausen credited with Technical Effects (meaning special effects) for his amazing stop-motion animation in movies like Mighty Joe Young, It Came From Beneath The Sea, and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Well, this column isn't really about special effects, just technical game details and behind-the-scenes programming stuff that we thought you might find interesting. We'll be updating it regularly, or whenever Lars thinks of something.

10/06/02: I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU
The traditional four-camera view/four rotations used by many isometric games doesn't always let players see everything that they need to. Instead, we opted to use variable transparency for buildings and rubble. This allows the player to "ghost" structures that are in the way, and see what's happening at street level in a busy downtown area.

Transparency can be adjusted from completely opaque to completely invisible, with a smooth range inbetween. You can do this by using the mouse wheel (if you have one), and/or keyboard shortcuts. Below are some screenshots showing the adjustable transparency in effect (click to enlarge):